Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210143
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
WESTERN KY. GIVES PIRATES, BIG EAST THE BOOT 72-68
Apparently, the hoop heads haven't been listening."We've been saying all year that we had a very good basketball team," Western Kentucky coach Ralph Willard said.
On Saturday evening at Orlando Arena, the Hilltoppers showed what they've been talking about. Western upset Seton Hall 72-68 in the second-round nightcap of the NCAA Southeast Region.
Or was it really an upset?
"If you people and others see this as a huge upset, so be it," Willard said after his 20th-ranked team moved into Thursday's regional semifinals at the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum against Florida State. "We thought we would play well. We thought it would be decided in the last five minutes."
That's precisely when Seton Hall's 12-game winning streak - the longest in Division I men's basketball - ended. The Pirates (28-7) took a 62-57 lead on Jerry Walker's layup with 5:05 left.
The Hilltoppers (26-5) scored 13 of the next 14 points, and the Big East Conference was history in this 55th NCAA Tournament. Only once since the Big East was founded, in 1980, has the league not had a Sweet 16 participant.
Seton Hall's loss sent a second No. 2 seed into oblivion, the sixth-ranked Pirates joining Arizona, which was booted from the West bracket by Santa Clara in the first round.
The Hilltoppers, the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions and Southeast's No. 7 seed, changed defenses throughout and didn't merely neutralize the Pirates' 7-foot-2, 270-pound problem, Luther Wright.
Their quickness made Wright wrong for Seton Hall. He played an unproductive 12 minutes, and Pirates coach P.J. Carlesimo was left stroking his beard and without an answer for Western's scrambling style.
"Western Kentucky played harder, played better and was better prepared," Carlesimo said. "It's very disappointing. I thought we were capable of going farther in the tournament, but we came up against a team more determined than us.
"How well they played had a lot to do with how well we didn't play."
Terry Dehere, the Big East player of the year, couldn't push the Pirates into the next round by himself. Dehere's collegiate career ended with a 30-point game, but Western's defense neutralized the slashing guard in the second half.
"I'm shocked," said Dehere, who stood on the floor and looked at the scoreboard in apparent disbelief when the game ended. "It's the final game of my college career. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon.
"Western Kentucky did a great job early [in building a 17-8 lead]. They were very small, and with all of the screens they set, they got a lot of good looks at the basket. I think the number of good shots they got was a bit of a surprise."
Mark Bell, Western's 5-8 star, scored 20 points. The biggest three came on a 3-pointer with 3:41 left, regaining the edge for the Hilltoppers at 64-63. Willard's team won despite shooting only 33 percent (10-of-30) in the second half.
"I felt the game slipping away [when Seton Hall went up by five late]," Willard said. "I didn't think we were out of it. We've been down 14 with seven minutes to go and won this season."
Western's traps gave Seton Hall the same problem it had against North Carolina and Georgetown, two other Pirates conquerors this season. The traps exposed the Hall's ball-handling deficiencies, forcing 20 turnovers.
"In the second half, I thought we had a good defensive team on the floor," Carlesimo said. "Luther was having trouble guarding their big guys, because of their quickness. If he's not rebounding and scoring, his size and strength are no advantage to us.
"When we got up five, we let it get away too easily. They beat us, period. They didn't do it with mirrors. They just beat us."
Willard, a protege of Kentucky coach Rick Pitino, may be sharing a doubleheader berth with his mentor on Thursday night in Charlotte. Kentucky meets Utah and Wake Forest plays Iowa today in Nashville, Tenn., for the other two Southeast semifinal spots.
"This was like a dream game you want to play," Bell said. "Our style of play was different for Seton Hall. We had a game plan and it worked." \
see microfilm for box score